1952 MG TD

[Luv2Wrench]

Filed down the welds and did some hammer and dolly work... much less than I thought I would have to do.  Very happy with the outcome, nice a straight.  I practiced for about an hour tonight and made some good progress getting better looking welds.  I increased the oxygen pressure a bit and switched back to the smaller tip.  I also increase the gap between the two pieces.  The combination of those changes and some more experimenting yielding some nice looking beads. 

[chistech]

My 31 Chevy had a dent on the passenger side corner of the body lower than the top of the rear seat. Some Bozo (clown for-those who don’t know Bozo), used a screw point dent puller and drilled about 25 -3/16” holes to pull the dent out. They simply could have pulled the rear seat out and knocked the dent back from the inside, never putting one hole in the car. I guess someone had bought a new dent puller and wanted to try it out. Anyway, after I knocked the dent back out, I welded every hole up with rod then filed it all down with high quality Nickerson files. There is nothing like a good file for this type of work. Once it was semi flat, it got tin knocked until I was happy with its shape. Any high spots got lightly filed again. I then bought, which I at the time, I thought was probably a waste of money, two SS disks that go on a grinder. One is a 5” and the other, a 9 or 10”. You run the “shrinking disk” over the area and all the high spots show up as blue metal where they get hot from the friction. Once they turn blue or even start to get red, remove the disk and hit the area with a spray bottle or a wet rag from a bucket. Within a few applications of the disk, your repaired surface is damn near perfect. I filed it some more after the disks to smooth it out and the area only needed glazing putty to get it perfect with no filler used. Those disks were definitely worth the money. 

[Luv2Wrench]

5 hours ago, chistech said:

My 31 Chevy had a dent on the passenger side corner of the body lower than the top of the rear seat. Some Bozo (clown for-those who don’t know Bozo), used a screw point dent puller and drilled about 25 -3/16” holes to pull the dent out. They simply could have pulled the rear seat out and knocked the dent back from the inside, never putting one hole in the car. I guess someone had bought a new dent puller and wanted to try it out. Anyway, after I knocked the dent back out, I welded every hole up with rod then filed it all down with high quality Nickerson files. There is nothing like a good file for this type of work. Once it was semi flat, it got tin knocked until I was happy with its shape. Any high spots got lightly filed again. I then bought, which I at the time, I thought was probably a waste of money, two SS disks that go on a grinder. One is a 5” and the other, a 9 or 10”. You run the “shrinking disk” over the area and all the high spots show up as blue metal where they get hot from the friction. Once they turn blue or even start to get red, remove the disk and hit the area with a spray bottle or a wet rag from a bucket. Within a few applications of the disk, your repaired surface is damn near perfect. I filed it some more after the disks to smooth it out and the area only needed glazing putty to get it perfect with no filler used. Those disks were definitely worth the money. 

 

Thanks for relating... I've been on the fence on those shrinking discs for some time.   The theory is great and the YouTube videos look great, but so does Cold Fusion.  Very helpful to hear from someone that really understands what is going on. 

[Mike Macartney]

23 hours ago, chistech said:

I then bought, which I at the time, I thought was probably a waste of money, two SS disks that go on a grinder.

 

Ted, I have spent most of my life running a body shop and had not come across these 'shrinking discs' before, perhaps they have only been available in the period I have been retired. Where have those last 15+ years gone?!? It is nice to hear that the shrinking discs work.

[chistech]

I bought the Wolfe’s metal brand set. They have some good videos too.

[Mike Macartney]

Thanks for that information Ted, sorry Jeff for using your post for this conversation.

[Luv2Wrench]

Unfortunately I've been having some rotator-cuff issues and really haven't been able to do anything.  It slowed me down last week but it has pretty much stopped me this week.   I think my Dr and I have a plan and I'll be able to get to work in another week or so.

[Mike Macartney]

9 hours ago, Luv2Wrench said:

Unfortunately I've been having some rotator-cuff issues and really haven't been able to do anything.

 

Sorry to hear of your problem. Not knowing or heard of 'rotator-cuff' before I had to look it up to find out what it was. Not only do I learn stuff about old motors and machining on this forum I am now learning medical terms.  I hope your shoulder recovers soon Jeff.

[chistech]

Rotator cuff problems are very painful and it’s almost impossible to sleep in bed. My brother has had 5 surgeries on both of his shoulders and I’m nursing both of mine, no surgery as of yet. We grew up butchering cattle from a young age and the motion of skinning is a very isometric one, pushing and pulling using both shoulders while expanding your reach to almost a full span. The doctors have told both of us that starting our butchering at 11&13 years respectively, basically destroyed our shoulders. Good luck my friend. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by chistech (see edit history)

[Luv2Wrench]

Shoulder might be a little better.  I'll start some physical therapy this weekend and see how it goes.  In the meantime I've been doing some plating.  I've decided to look at building a barrel plater to speed up the process.  I've got a lot of nuts/washers and bolts to do.  I'll still have to clean each individual one but at least I will not have to individually wire them... at least that's the hope.

 

[John S.]

Luv2Wrench, hopefully PT will help your shoulder.  Surgery is a 9 month recovery. My wife is going for PT now for a torn rotator-cuff. Hope you will only need PT. Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas. John

[Luv2Wrench]

7 hours ago, John S. said:

Luv2Wrench, hopefully PT will help your shoulder.  Surgery is a 9 month recovery. My wife is going for PT now for a torn rotator-cuff. Hope you will only need PT. Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas. John

 

Thank John, I hope PT goes well for your wife.  Today has been remarkably better than yesterday and I actually got a nice sleep last night.  I'm feeling very optimistic. 

[hursst]

Welcome back, Jeff.  PT works wonders, all though it does take a while.  Take your time and you'll be 100% sooner than later.  MG work is looking good!  Safety Fast!

[chistech]

Here I am down in Florida for Christmas sitting down relaxing going through all my favorite restoration threads and my left shoulder is hurting more than it ever has! Jeff, did you send it my way! 😆. Anyway, this relaxing seems to do me more damage than all the work I normally do. I have no idea why it’s hurting so bad but hope it stops soon! On a better note, an early merry Christmas to all!

[Laughing Coyote]

45 minutes ago, chistech said:

relaxing going through all my favorite restoration threads and my left shoulder is hurting more than it ever has!

Lift the beers with your right arm. Ease the stress on the left.  

Merry Christmas!

[alsfarms]

I have been through the shoulder rebuild along with Titanium screws and all.  After I got past therapy and the healing time my Dr. told me that if he was real honest and told us all how painful shoulder surgery is , no one would get repaired.  The bad thing, and we are all different, but I would hurt, take a pain pill, then not only have the pain, but have constipation  and a foggy head also.  One event like that I learned that I can deal with a bit of pain before I would deal with pain and the added bonus of constipation.  It was bad enough for me that my wife would have to help me get out of bed......I felt like such a whimp!  Now that I am past all that "shoulder stuff" I am very glad that I got my shoulder fixed!  Enjoy your time in Florida.  Everyone here have a Merry Christmas, whatever your circumstance or location would be, and and a great New Years celebration starting a new decade.

Al

Edited December 24, 2019 by alsfarms
clarity (see edit history)

[chistech]

12 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said:

Lift the beers with your right arm. Ease the stress on the left.  

Merry Christmas!

Beer gives me a sinus headache,,,,,,,,lol but scotch doesn’t!🤣🤣

[Luv2Wrench]

I got the semi-barrel plater done and it worked pretty well.  I need to work on the dangler as it spent too much time plating itself (and creating general electrolytic havoc) instead of maintaining contact with the parts to be plated.  I have some ideas and I think this will be pretty easy to fix.   I also want to look at increasing the rotation speed.  The bbq rotisserie motor I got doesn't have a speed control and it goes really slow.  The parts tend to stick together and make their way to near the top before gravity takes over and they fall to the bottom.  I need to get a little more tumble action.  All that said, I put 25 nuts/bolts in there and 40 minutes later had a nice plate.  I still have to clean each one before plating and they need a quick touch-up on a soft wire wheel after to get the nice shine, but that's a heck of a lots less work than wiring each one not too mention I could only plate 5 things at a time before. 

 

[John S.]

Never heard of a semi-barrel plater.  Very nice work on the bolts and washers.

[Luv2Wrench]

2 minutes ago, John S. said:

Never heard of a semi-barrel plater.  Very nice work on the bolts and washers.

 

Thanks!  I did make the term up so that might be why it doesn't sound familiar.    It is a barrel plating system but made with a bowl instead of a barrel... I melted holes in the bowl with a large soldering iron.  Having a full barrel would have taken up a lot of room and thus a lot of plating solution.  I got the idea from a poster in the Caswell plating forum.  I modified it slightly but it is pretty much the same.  

[John S.]

Great idea. It makes a big difference in the  restoration. Neat

[Bloo]

Is that nickel?

[Mike Macartney]

11 hours ago, Luv2Wrench said:

I melted holes in the bowl with a large soldering iron.

 

What a clever idea.

[Luv2Wrench]

20 hours ago, Bloo said:

Is that nickel?

 

It is zinc with a clear chromate (which give it a little blue color).

 

[Luv2Wrench]

13 hours ago, Mike Macartney said:

 

What a clever idea.

 

Thanks! As I mentioned I read about this technique on the Caswell forum and the guy that did it has a website with all the instructions.  However, one of the things I decided to do differently was drill holes in the bowl rather than use a soldering iron.  After 6 attempts (including 4 ruined bowls) I decided to use the soldering iron.   I was trying to avoid the fumes and mess but the bowl is "microwave safe" and is thus made out of something that doesn't really stink when melted and had some wonderful clumping like properties when melted. 

It appears the guy's site is down right now, when it is back up I'll edit this post and add a link.

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by Luv2Wrench (see edit history)

[Luv2Wrench]

Slowly getting back out to the shop.  Shoulder is mostly fine.  One of the last things I did was patch the holes on each side of the scuttle.  I'm getting them ready for paint now.  I tried a test fit of the windscreen mounts and found that they were not even close.  I didn't add enough curve to the patch pieces and that coupled with the shrinking from the welding caused a big loss of "curve" in that area.  I spent some time yesterday and a little today getting the curve back to where the windscreen mounts fit nicely.  There were some other places that needed a little bumping and I got those done as well.  One of the rear inner fenders had 6 random 1/4" holes.  I'm not sure what someone used them for at some point in the past but the only purpose they would serve now is to let moisture in to the back of the car.  As such I filled those in with some weld.  This turned out to be a lot easier than I had thought.  I only needed to get a small pool going on one side and could dip the filler rod in and fill quickly to the other side.  I found I could briefly hover over the filled area and get it back to a puddle and it would flatten and level itself.  A couple of quick hits with the hammer/dolly before it cooled and all was well.  I really hope to get primer on the tub by next weekend.

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Luv2Wrench (see edit history)

[Luv2Wrench]

Here's a picture of the shop this morning... we don't see this very often here in Georgia.   Some what of a freak snow.  Forecast was for some flurries but warming to 42 and rain showers.  We had some big flurries as predicted and it was 35, then we had a burst of snow and temp dropped to 31.  Probably ended up with 2" an hour later.  All done now, should be in shop later this afternoon.

 

 

 

[alsfarms]

You are lucky that this snow even is only an occasional thing.  Out here in the west much more typical!  How are you doing?

Al

 

[Luv2Wrench]

36 minutes ago, alsfarms said:

You are lucky that this snow even is only an occasional thing.  Out here in the west much more typical!  How are you doing?

Al

 

 

Yep, I love the snow but I don't love what can come with it, so it is great to have it as a rare event.  I was hoping to get some primer on the tub today and start assembling it tomorrow but it looks like that'll be pushed a day.    My shoulder is much better but I'm having a hard time building up strength in them.  They still feel like they are just one wrong move from disaster.   Might be more mental than physical.    My left knee is still pathetic and I don't really think it is going to get any better without a replacement and it really isn't bad enough to do that, so I'll just keep complaining about it and seeking pity.  It makes a great excuse for things I don't want to do and until my son heads off to college next fall that works well. 😉

 

[Laughing Coyote]

Isn't getting old fun.  Just take it easy and do what you can do.

[Mike Macartney]

13 hours ago, Luv2Wrench said:

Here's a picture of the shop this morning...

 

That's your workshop?! Wow, it's what we would call an expensive 'bungalow' that people live in, here in Norfolk, England. It looks great. Look after yourself and your shoulders Jeff.

[John S.]

That is one nice workshop .

[Luv2Wrench]

I am getting some work done.  The focus right now is getting a paint booth that I can quickly setup and take down.  I believe I have the details worked out and I'm waiting a few things to get shipped to me.  I picked up an old 30" attic fan that moves a lot of air (7800CFM) and I've been doing a bit of restoration work on it since it lived outdoors before I rescued it.  I have new bearings on order.  Original 1/3HP motor is fine and the then 4 blades are in great condition.  Unlike the modern version of these fans, the hub to which each blade attaches is a beefy cast aluminum piece, very impressive.   Each blade is huge in comparison to the modern version and nice and sturdy.  It is somewhat amazing to look at this old guy next to the modern version. 

Anyway, the new bearings should come in by end of next week and I'll have it back together by the weekend.  I should get the remainder of the materials the next week and hope to have the paint booth completed by the next weekend.  The basic concept is a semi-permenant structure along the ceiling that 4x8 sheets of Coroplast (basically white plastic cardboard) mount to with Velcro.  In theory this will give me a 10'x16' paint booth that will be easy to store, quick to setup/take down and very functional.  I've certainly made a mountain out of a molehill with this paint booth idea but I think it will be worth it in the long run.  That's the hope anyway. 

[Luv2Wrench]

Thanks for the nice comments on the shop.  It isn't a typical shop because of what it started from and how close it is to the house.  It originally was a lean-to style semi-open storage area for the full size recreational vehicles (RVs).  When you looked out the back of the house you faced a 45' long wall that was 18' high!!!  It was terrible.  The plan when we bought the house was to convert it to my workshop and while it took a few years to get to that point, that finally happened.  I only did the interior work but I had a great old-school framer who converted the lean-to to a gable roof, used much of the siding from the one wall to cover the other two walls, frame out and install windows, interior beams and a wall.  I really needed something that would look like a 'bungalow' such that it would fit in with being directly behind and *very* visible from inside our house.   It turned out great and I've very much enjoyed it.

 

[Luv2Wrench]

I fell off the wagon again and went on another machine run.  About 18 months ago I passed on a Cincinnati Tool cutter & grinder because I couldn't get it out of where it was.  It popped up on CL again and it was $50 or it was going to the dump.  The threat won out and with a now strong 19 year old son... we went up there and pulled it out.  7 hour round trip and 2 hour extraction. I haven't got it in the shop yet.  I'll add some pics when I get it in.  It weighs 600lbs but was a willing participant in the extraction.  Probably the smoothest one to date, no small thanks to my son.  It is in a lot worse shape than it looks.  Been sitting outside in the elements for as long as anyone can remember. 

 

[JV Puleo]

Your' are  more incorrigible than I am Jeff but it's a good find. In addition to being able to sharpen cutters and drills I suspect it will be useful for things it was never intended for. I've used my valve grinder for some odd things but that looks a good deal more useful.

[Luv2Wrench]

Here are some pictures after arrival in the shop.  I'm trying to link these to a hosting site so the size will be better.   (update - hosting appears to work great.  These images should get as big as you can get your browser window.  Let me know if anyone is experience loading issue or other issues)

 

After futzing around with it a little last night I was able to get the spindle to rotate freely.  Not one other thing on it will move... but if I had to choose one, I guess I'd be happy the spindle is free.  Will be moving it over in the corner with the shaper and horizontal mill.  I'll try to some rust treatment over time as I finish the MG.  Would a nice addition to the shop.  It has an incredible amount of capability, from tapered spindles to straight-edges. 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Luv2Wrench (see edit history)

[Laughing Coyote]

Looks like you will have to invest in some Evapo rust remover. I read somewhere, where a guy had a rusty engine block and he built a little house around it and used a little pump and mister set up and let it run so it would coat everything for days until it got rid of the rust. Just something to throw out there for you to ponder. I'm sure you could craft up something that will work. Can't wait to see all this equipment and the MG all finished. 

[Luv2Wrench]

1 hour ago, Laughing Coyote said:

Looks like you will have to invest in some Evapo rust remover. I read somewhere, where a guy had a rusty engine block and he built a little house around it and used a little pump and mister set up and let it run so it would coat everything for days until it got rid of the rust. Just something to throw out there for you to ponder. I'm sure you could craft up something that will work. Can't wait to see all this equipment and the MG all finished. 

 

I've been thinking something along those lines.  I played around with it a little more tonight instead of moving it to the side and getting back on the MG.  Hopefully I'll have more discipline tomorrow.

 

[Mike Macartney]

Jeff, you seem to be a "glutton for punishment"! I would not know where to start with a machine in that state. Seeing the second photo, do you have to make all new revolving parts or are they salvageable? After having more of a think about it, I suppose it is no more difficult than restoring a very rusty car? I look forward to reading and seeing the restoration of this grinder. Mike